Supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs) are high-temperature, high-pressure, light-water reactors that operate above the thermodynamic critical point of water (647 K, 22.1MPa). In principle, they may be moderated with light water or heavy water. Feed-water of the steam cycle is heated up inside the reactor core to superheated steam, without any coolant recirculation, and the steam is supplied directly to a steam turbine. This strategy boosts the power plant's efficiency and may make the design more competitive. SCWRs have a greater steam enthalpy at the turbine intake than traditional water-cooled reactors, which boosts efficiency, lowers fuel costs, and reduces the steam mass flow rate required to achieve a target turbine power. This lower steam mass flow rate reduces the turbine size and the size of condensers, pumps, preheaters, tanks, and pipes thus lowering total steam cycle expenses. Because nuclear power plants' capital costs are often higher than their cost of fuel, this latter advantage has an even higher impact on electricity production costs than efficiency. Another advantage of using supercritical water in a nuclear reactor is that a boiling crisis is physically excluded, which adds a new safety feature to the design. The deployment of Super Critical Water-Cooled Reactors (SCWRs) according to their high temperature and pressure operational features offers an important milestone advance in nuclear energy technologies, providing enhanced effectiveness, safety, and sustainability for the environment. However, realizing this promise necessitates an accurate assessment of many variables, including technological resilience, legislation, security features, commercial viability, and popular support. The present article provides a detailed overview of the numerous strategies and issues involved in the implementation of SCWRs, with a particular emphasis on the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design variation. This study evaluates the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of SCWR-SMRs using a thorough analysis that takes into account a variety of elements based on the most promising main SCWR design features. The assessment of SCWR-SMRs' technological readiness, which takes into account a variety of engineering, operational, and safety factors, is at the center of the present inquiry. Assessing the reactor's performance under various operating options, material compatibility, and design details are all part of this evaluation.

A review of strategies and challenges of super critical water-cooled reactor (SCWR) deployment and technology readiness assessment of a SCWR- SMR design

Seyed Kamal Mousavibalgehshiri;Guglielmo Lomonaco;Reza Sadeghi
2025-01-01

Abstract

Supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs) are high-temperature, high-pressure, light-water reactors that operate above the thermodynamic critical point of water (647 K, 22.1MPa). In principle, they may be moderated with light water or heavy water. Feed-water of the steam cycle is heated up inside the reactor core to superheated steam, without any coolant recirculation, and the steam is supplied directly to a steam turbine. This strategy boosts the power plant's efficiency and may make the design more competitive. SCWRs have a greater steam enthalpy at the turbine intake than traditional water-cooled reactors, which boosts efficiency, lowers fuel costs, and reduces the steam mass flow rate required to achieve a target turbine power. This lower steam mass flow rate reduces the turbine size and the size of condensers, pumps, preheaters, tanks, and pipes thus lowering total steam cycle expenses. Because nuclear power plants' capital costs are often higher than their cost of fuel, this latter advantage has an even higher impact on electricity production costs than efficiency. Another advantage of using supercritical water in a nuclear reactor is that a boiling crisis is physically excluded, which adds a new safety feature to the design. The deployment of Super Critical Water-Cooled Reactors (SCWRs) according to their high temperature and pressure operational features offers an important milestone advance in nuclear energy technologies, providing enhanced effectiveness, safety, and sustainability for the environment. However, realizing this promise necessitates an accurate assessment of many variables, including technological resilience, legislation, security features, commercial viability, and popular support. The present article provides a detailed overview of the numerous strategies and issues involved in the implementation of SCWRs, with a particular emphasis on the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design variation. This study evaluates the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of SCWR-SMRs using a thorough analysis that takes into account a variety of elements based on the most promising main SCWR design features. The assessment of SCWR-SMRs' technological readiness, which takes into account a variety of engineering, operational, and safety factors, is at the center of the present inquiry. Assessing the reactor's performance under various operating options, material compatibility, and design details are all part of this evaluation.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/1236647
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